The principle of relativity in Newton’s Principia and in today’s classical physics

Abstract

The relationship between Newtonian physics and the theory of relativity is investigated, with reference to Newton’s masterwork. The tension within the Principia between Galilean relativity and a thoroughly relational concept of motion, such as the one espoused by Leibniz, is shown, and the way it surfaces also in contemporary physics textbooks is illustrated. The link between Newton’s physics and its metaphysical underpinnings, which is central to the Leibniz-Clarke controversy, is clarified by investigating his cosmological assumptions.